Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz fell (4-6), 7-6(5), 6-4) to Frenchman Gael Monfils and said goodbye to the Cincinnati tournament, the seventh Masters 1,000 of the season, in which it was his first match, while Pablo Carreño lost in the round of 16.
Alcaraz was unable to complete his victory on Thursday after the match was postponed due to rain in the second set tie-break, with the Frenchman leading 1-3. Monfils recovered the match on Friday with authority on serve and the Spaniard with errors, and the third set was soon a reality. It was also true that the Murcian was not having his day.
The silver medallist at the recent Olympic Games still had a chance to break in the second game, but a few bad minutes cost him a 3-1 deficit and made him smash his racket on the ground. Alcaraz did not take advantage of any of the four break points he had and Monfils missed just enough to pull off the upset.
The El Palmar native, who came to Ohio in search of the number two in the world and to continue closing in on the number one, says goodbye without having even had a chance to play in the run-up to the US Open. After winning Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and returning to the Parisian clay for the Games, the American hard surface was a challenge for Alcaraz from the start.
On the other hand, Carreño stood up to Alexander Zverev without any complexes, but the German kept his ticket to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 7-6(6). The Spanish tennis player was enjoying his best week after a long elbow problem, with two victories in Ohio, but the 2021 champion made it 4-0 in duels between the two.
Carreño started by losing his serve in both sets, but he reacted anyway by taking advantage of some of his many break opportunities. The first set slipped away from him due to a second break and then a tie-break in the second set. The Asturian is now in US Open mode, his favourite Grand Slam after semi-finals in 2017 and 2020.